On this page, you will find out the best talents for each tier for your Unholy Death Knight in World of Warcraft —
Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1.5. We also have default talent lists for various types of content, such as raiding or Mythic+.
If you play with Warmode on, we have your PvP talents covered as well.

Talents can be freely changed when out of combat and in a rested XP area
(such as an inn or a capital city). Moreover, Tome of the Tranquil Mind
and Codex of the Tranquil Mind can be used to temporarily allow
players to change talents anywhere, as long as they are out of
combat.

2. Tier 1 (Level 56) Talents for Unholy Death Knights

All Will Serve causes Raise Dead to summon a skeletal
minion in addition to the ghoul. The skeletal minion lasts indefinitely and
it uses a ranged attack against your target and cleave onto targets nearby your
focus.

Clawing Shadows replaces Scourge Strike. It has
a 30-yard range (instead of being melee only) and it deals all Shadow damage
instead of Scourge Strike's part-Physical and part-Shadow damage.

Clawing Shadows is currently the best choice for situations where
you will be away from your target and want to maintain high uptime. Another
reason this talent is a strong single target choice is due to the damage being
100% Shadow damage, whereas Scourge Strike is half-Physical,
half-Shadow, making it scale better with Unholy Mastery.

All Will Serve is the best single target choice currently, however it does
add value to AoE situations. Currently, the Risen Skulker that is summoned
when this is talented attacks the target near your focus.

Unholy Blight grants you a buff that, for 6 seconds, causes you to infect nearby enemies with a
disease which lasts 14 seconds from the moment of application. It has a
45-second cooldown.

Ebon Fever is currently the best option for single-target
situations. It does require you to spend more Runes during a fight on
refreshing Virulent Plague, however the damage this provides is
very powerful.

Asphyxiate stuns the target for 4 seconds. It has a 20-yard
range and a 45-second cooldown.

None of the talents in this tier improve your DPS, but they still have
a lot of potential usefulness.

Grip of the Dead should be used if you are in need of a slow. This
effect decreases over the duration of Death and Decay, meaning your
Death and Decay will slow the enemies standing in it for the entirety of the
duration (although not by much by the end).

Death's Reach is a comfortable pick for fights that require you to
control adds using your Death Grip (Aggramar for instance).

Asphyxiate provides a stun which can be very useful in dungeons,
Mythic+, and certain raid encounters.

6. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents for Unholy Death Knights

Wraith Walk is a channeled spell that increases your movement
speed by 70% for 4 seconds. While channeling, your movement speed cannot be
reduced below 170%. It has a 1-minute cooldown.

Death Pact heals you for 50% of your
maximum health, but absorbs healing equal for 30% of your maximum health for 15
seconds. It has a 2-minute cooldown.

The talents in this tier do not increase your DPS either, but they can
provide you with great benefits during raid encounters. They are quite
situational, so you will have to choose based on the requirements of the
fight.

Spell Eater is the preferred choice in fights with large amounts
of magic damage, allowing you to survive if you make a mistake, to soak the
damage of certain abilities, or to avoid certain mechanics altogether.

Wraith Walk is a great movement speed cooldown that, if chosen,
gives you a second movement speed cooldown (along with
Death's Advance). This should be chosen if you need a faster
movement speed cooldown than the 30% movement speed increase of Death's
Advance, or if you need this talent along with Death's Advance.

Finally, Death Pact provides you with a large heal which may be
useful in Mythic+ or some raid encounters.

7. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents for Unholy Death Knights

Defile replaces Death and Decay. With every tick, the
Defile area of effect will increase if there are any enemies standing in it.
Your Scourge Strike also gains a cleaving effect while you are in your
own Defile. Finally Defile has a 20 second cooldown (as opposed to Death and
Decay's 30 second cooldown).

Epidemic is an active ability that costs 30 Runic Power. When
used, it causes all instances of your Virulent Plague (within 100
yards) to deal Shadow damage to the affected enemy, as well as a small amount
of additional Shadow damage to all other enemies around them.

Currently, Pestilence is the best option for single target
fights. Playing this talent will require you to cast Death and Decay
in a single target setting where the target will not move out of your Death and
Decay. If you expect the target to move when you would cast Death and Decay,
you should hold off on casting it.

Epidemic is the best option for and Mythic+ and AoE burst
fights. If you are running this talent then you would replace
Death Coil with Epidemic when there are 2 or more targets.

Defile is currently not as strong as Epidemic is for AoE/cleave
situations for open world. For single target situations it is close to
Pestilence, making it a viable option.

8. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents for Unholy Death Knights

Unholy Frenzy grants you 20% Haste
and causes your auto attacks to infect your target with a
Festering Wound for 12 seconds. It has a 1.3-minute cooldown.

Summon Gargoyle summons a Gargoyle to fight by your side for 30
seconds. For every 2 Runic Power you spend, the Gargoyle will gain 1%
increased damage. This ability has a 3-minute cooldown.

Currently, Unholy Frenzy is the best option for both single
target and AoE fights. Army of the Damned is a close alternative and
is much easier to play with if you are newer to Unholy.

Summon Gargoyle is currently not as strong as the other 2
options. If this talent sims close to Unholy Frenzy and you enjoyed the
Dark Arbiter playstyle of Legion then you can try playing this talent.

9. PvP Talents (War Mode)

In Battle for Azeroth, there will be the option to go into "War Mode".
Enabling War Mode provides the following benefits:

PvP talents enabled in the outdoor world.

10% increase in World Quest rewards at maximum level.

10% more experience gained while leveling.

Earn Conquest Points which can reward gear every week.

With the benefits of enabling War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is
recommended to enable the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at
maximum level. However, you will make yourself available for open world PvP,
and the possibility to be "ganked" while leveling or doing World Quests
exists.

9.1. Unholy Death Knight War Mode Talents

In this section we will rank the PvP talents best for leveling and doing
solo / small group PvE content. Below is a ranking of both General PvP Talents
and Unholy Death Knight-specific PvE talents.

9.1.1. General PvP Talents

Adaptation is likely your most passive choice since it will
automatically remove loss of control effects over 5 seconds. It is recommended
for leveling to take this PvP talent.

Gladiator's Medallion is an on-use ability that removes all
movement impairing effects and all loss of control effects.

Relentless is also a passive ability but it does not
automatically remove crowd control abilities but instead reduces the
duration.

9.1.2. Unholy Death Knight PvP Talents

Life and Death causes targets afflicted by your Festering Wounds
when they heal to also heal you for 10% of the amount. It also causes your
Virulent Plague to deal 400% of the normal eruption damage when it is
dispelled. This is powerful for world PvP however it does not get much value
when just World Questing.

Necromancer's Bargain reduces the cooldown of your of your Apocalypse
by 45 seconds however your Apocalypse doesn't summon ghouls but instead applies
Crpyt Fever to the target. Crpyt fever deals up to 8% of the targets maximum
health as Shadow damage over 4 seconds. Healing spells casted on the target
refresh the duration of Crpyt Fever. This is a strong choice for World PvP.

Raise Abomination replaces Army of the Dead and is a 1.5 minute cooldown
that raises an Abomination for 25 seconds that applys Festering Wounds when it
melees a target and affects all nearby targets with Virulent Plague. This is very
strong for both World Questing and World PvP.

Lichborne replaces Icebound Fortitude. It is a 1 minute cooldown
that makes you Undead for 10 seconds, reducing the damage you take by 30%
while also making you immune to Stun, Snake, Fear, and Root effects. While you
are under the effects of Lichborne you cannot move faster than 50% normal
speed.

Anti-Magic Zone creates a bubble on the ground that lasts for 10
seconds and reduces spell damage taken by raid members inside it by 60%. It has
a 2-minute cooldown and it is a good talent if you are expecting mostly magic
damage.

Heartstop Aura decreases the cooldown recovery rate of abilities
by 20% to all enemies within 8 yards. It provides a slight advantage
over other players in longer fights.

Necrotic Strike is a melee ability that deals Plague damage and
converts 1 Festering Wound into a Necrotic Wound.
Necrotic Wounds absorb healing received by the target. This ability costs 1
Rune. This talent is only useful for world PvP situations.

Reanimation reanimates a nearby corpse summoning a zombie with
5 health for 20 seconds which slowly moves towards the target. If it reaches
your target, it explodes, stunning all enemies within 5 yards for 3 seconds and
dealing 10% of the enemies' health in Shadow damage. This ability costs 1 Rune.
This can be a powerful talent for both open world situations and Battle for
Azeroth leveling.

Cadaverous Pallor is a passive that has a 20% activation chance
when you are hit by a spell; when this activates, the damage of that spell is
completely absorbed and converted into a disease on yourself dealing Nature
damage over time. It allows you the manage and survive through bigger magical
hits by acting as a psuedo stagger effect.

Decomposing Aura is a passive that causes all enemies within 10
yards to lose up to 3% of their maximum health every 2 seconds, stacking up to
5 times, lasting for 6 seconds. Great talent for big trash pulls and larger
fights.